No substitute for experiences: Billy primed for revenge mission

After a heavy defeat in Perth, they got the job done at Suncorp Stadium to give him a series win in his debut coaching campaign and it seemed an ‘easy’ transition into coaching for one of the state’s most celebrated Origin players.  

In 2023, the Maroons followed up by wrapping up the series in the opening two games, a gusty against the odds win in Adelaide and knockout blow in Game Two, again delivered at Suncorp Stadium.

But after some controversial calls at the selection table and an inability to adequately deal with the in-your-face aggression of Michael Maguire’s Blues last season, the Maroons come into this year’s series with a point to prove.

On the opening day of camp after announcing the Game One squad which included NRL 10-gamer Robert Toia for his debut, Slater tipped his hat to the opposition, remaining steadfastly confident that if his players played to their best ability, the results would come.

“The first thing I'll say is we weren't good enough to win last year, New South Wales played a better style of football and they deserved their victory, and it's up to us to find our best football,” Slater said.

“(We have to) be clear about that.

“We don't get the opportunity to go and review and sit down and play 27 rounds.

“It's a series of three, so you have got to be pretty sharp from the start, and that'll be our focus leading into the next 10 days.”

With their preparations on the Sunshine Coast complete, Slater cut a relaxed figure speaking before the captain’s run, but one determined to start the series well and deny New South Wales the chance to breach the Lang Park fortress in back-to-back games.

“It's important to us this place, (but) I think when you start thinking about outcomes, your mind wanders away from what's really important for you,” Slater said.

“The outcomes - sure we don't want those outcomes (of an opening loss) – but at the same time, we've just been really focused on what process we need to undertake to play our best footy.

“That's going to help us get a result at the end of the day, and that's going to help send 52,000 screaming Queenslanders home happy and the rest of the 5.5 million Queenslanders (supporting) happy as well.

“So, it's about focusing narrow and keeping that focus short-term and right in front of us, rather than looking at the big picture right now.”

Maroons skipper Daly Cherry-Evans, who at 36 years and 97 days old will become the oldest man to play Origin for Queensland, said like the players, he had seen Slater process what went down in last year’s tough campaign.

“The lesson is always there to be learnt when you lose, for sure, so coach, coaching staff, players, we all walked away with a few lessons,” Cherry-Evans said.

“(But) we were really proud of Game Three. The end result wasn't kind to us, so, with that in a results-driven industry, we have to go back and look really hard around all of our performances and we have done that.

“(We) take ownership of the result last year, which is really disappointing to let the state down, but we do have to put that aside – not forget it – but take those small moments from it where we can get better.

“Origin is all about small moments, and eventually, when the stakes get higher and the game goes for longer, they turn into bigger moments.

“We did take away some lessons and we'll be looking to implement them on Wednesday night.”